Chapter 9

"Blaise, is that you?" Someone whispered from behind and by the slight tremble and hitch it could only be one person, Harry Potter. And sure enough, when he turned his head he stared right into the other boy's bright emerald green eyes. Harry's hair was sticking up even more than usual which meant he must've just woken up.

"What are you doing out of bed Harry? You should get some rest before the big game tomorrow."

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are playing the finals for the Quidditch Cup tomorrow. It is the first time since Harry joined the team five years ago that Ravenclaw has made it this far. Previous years it was between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but because Draco dropped out of the team this year, Ravenclaw flew to the second highest ranking thanks to their newest seeker, Cho Chang. Many people believed she received special ninjutsu training over the summer. Honestly, Blaise just thought that without Draco to distract her, she was more focused on the game.

"Ravenclaw is no threat to our team." Harry replied smugly. "Why are you still awake? It's nearly midnight."

"I'm waiting for Hermione to finish her rounds. I need to talk to her." Blaise's voice sounded grave, like he was anticipating the end of days and knew he could not stop it happening.

"You could always talk to me? I know I'm no Hermione but I'll always listen." Laying his hand on Blaise's shoulder, Harry hoped to Godric the other man did not see his face flush. Only Ron knew this, but Harry has had a crush on the tanned man for as long as he could remember. It seemed that there was not a time in his life where he did not think about Blaise constantly. He will do anything for this man. He knew Blaise was still in love with Hermione and because of that Harry's friendship with Hermione is strained. She was his rival in a dirty war called love.

"Thank you Harry, but this is something very personal. I'd rather speak with Hermione. Not even Draco knows this." Blaise added the last bit to reassure Harry. He didn't know why he wanted to reassure the other boy, but the pained expression he made when Blaise mentioned Hermione's name was just too pitiful to bear. It has been this way since first year; Harry did not like Hermione's presence. He rarely speaks to her and he rarely mentions her name. It's like he wants her to disappear.

"How has Draco been? I haven't seen him in a while." The boy asked while sitting down next to Blaise, knees touching. Harry always asked after Draco, Blaise knew that Harry was gay; everybody in the world knew the boy-who-lived was batting for the other team. It made front page news, but no one ever saw him with a significant other. Blaise believed this was because Harry was in love with Draco (hence his deep dislike of Hermione) and everybody knew that Draco was still fully determined to marry 'his girl' when they turn seventeen, that is if he can convince 'his girl' to marry at such a young age. And of course then Draco would have to go through Mr Granger.

"Moody and easy to throw jinxes around, like usual. I wish he would just realise that no man here would try and get close to her romantically. No one wants to be on Dray's bad side." Blaise chuckled at his best friend's antics; he even believed Professor Snape has designs on his 'future wife'.

"He's even more moody than usual Blaise." A soft voice spoke up from the dark corner of the room; neither of the two males had heard Hermione enter the common room.

"And you should both be in bed." She stated in her perfect prefect voice, hands firmly on her hips. Who knew that when Hermione grew out of her shy phase, a bossy (brilliant, smart, empowered) woman would take her place? Draco is of course ecstatic about this, because now she was more irritating than endearing which translates to fewer males' attention. Except for the odd older boy here and there, many boys their age have given up on the idea of stealing what is Draco Malfoy's.

Without a word Harry stood up and left the other two alone, Hermione was not fazed by this cold behaviour, after a couple of years it became expected, boring even. She had thought that she and Harry would be great friends, seeing as they both come from the muggle world, but for once she was wrong.

"Hermione, may I speak with you, please?" Blaise requested. He has never felt more nervous in his short life, his palms were sweating, his leg couldn't stop bouncing and he couldn't muster the famed Gryffindor courage to look her in the eye.

"Sure," she flopped down on the couch, her bossy persona retreating. "What's wrong?" She took his hand in hers comfortingly. Blaise has been acting strange for the last few weeks and she could not figure out the reason why. He stopped speaking in the middle of conversation to stare at the blank wall in front of him, he ate less and less with each passing day and she caught him copying someone else's homework!

"I… I have to tell you something." He took a deep breath, inhaling through his nose, exhaling through his mouth. A calming technique Hermione recognized from years of exam stress. Knowing that her friend needs time to sort his thoughts, she kept silent, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand.

"Please don't hate me Hermione. I didn't ask for this to happen. I don't even know when this happened. I'm so sorry Hermione. I just can't keep it to myself anymore! I have to tell someone. I'm - I'm -"

"Blaise, please breathe. And just tell me what you're apologising for." Hermione became a bit concerned; she has never seen Blaise so distressed before.

"I'm gay." He deadpanned.

Blaise waited for the shocked gasp, the rage induced slaps, anything really, but Hermione just sat there, head slightly tilted like she was still waiting for him to break the news. He couldn't understand why she wasn't responding to his declaration; it was shocking news after all.

"I know, Blaise. Even Draco knows, we just had a lengthy discussion about it actually. And we both still love you for you and we, especially Dray, approve of you courting Harry." She was still rubbing small circles on the back of his hand when he suddenly pulled away from her, standing up and pacing in front of the hearth.

"How do you guys know this? I didn't even know I liked him until a few weeks ago." Hermione could see her friend was struggling with his situation, she couldn't imagine what feelings must be flowing through him right now. He was most likely confused and embarrassed, wondering who else had figured out his secret.

"Well, firstly, I was the one to figure it out and secondly, you have got to stop staring at that boy's arse if you don't want other people to figure it out too."

"Mi, what am I going to do? How does one go about courting the-boy-who-lived? Not to mention I'm almost a hundred percent sure that Harry's in love with Draco. You've heard how he goes on and on about how great Dray is, how gorgeous his abs looks in skivvies, he even mentioned once that Dray smells 'mouth-watering'. Mi, he even likes the way Dray smells!"

Blaise sank to his knees; arms lying limp at his sides. He looked so dejected that Hermione rushed to him and crushed her best friend in a smothering hug. She felt his pain; it's similar to how she felt when Dray told her he doesn't want to marry her anymore. Both of them feel the fear of losing the one person they cannot live without. She was the lucky one of the two to at least know the object of her affection returns her feelings if not more than at the very least equally. But Blaise is completely in the dark about Harry's feelings. No, it's even worse than that, he believes that Harry is in love with another man. If only Hermione could advise Blaise to use the same kidnap-and-interrogate strategy that she herself had used on Draco not two hours ago. It is a wonder what a blindfold and feathers can do to drive sense back into a man (That and unending questions until she got to the root of the problem, honestly, how could he ever think he wasn't the best man for her?). Hermione giggled a bit at the memory of a terrified Draco, what did he think she would do to him? Rape him? Not that he would really mind it if she slept with him, he's been making all sorts of lewd suggestions whenever their alone.

Blaise heard Hermione laugh and angrily spun in the cage she calls arms.

"And what is so bloody funny about all this?" Couldn't Mi see how lost he was, how much he needed her direction and bossy-know-it-all attitude to tell him what to do?

"I think I have to tell you what happened between me and Dray tonight. But first, we need to devise a plan on how to get two of the most fabulous men I know together, because I know that Harry likes you too Blaise, it's why he never wants to be in the same room with me when you're here." She winked at him secretively and he felt instantly relieved to have a brilliant mind such as hers scheming on his behalf.

"Thank you Mione, I needed to hear that. And I don't I even care as much that he might be in love with someone else because I'm going to make him fall in love with me. Just you watch, I'll make him see that I'm the one that can make him happy. I love you, you know?" Blaise brought her back into his arms and squeezed all his thankfulness into her.

"I love you too Blaise." She pulled back slightly, "Now, I think the first thing we, and by 'we' I mean you, have to do is find out what Harry's favourite everything is." She looked at him cheekily, her eyes positively sparkling!

"I might know a few of those." He admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.

"Good. We shall start with operation "Get-the-Saviour-into-Blaise's-pants" the day after tomorrow!"

"Mi, I think we should rename that plan and why the day after tomorrow? Isn't that a bit soon?"

"Nonsense, Blaise. You have to start as soon as possible and that's the earliest we can get flowers delivered. Or do you want some other man snatching up what is yours or, Merlin forbid, Brown getting her pretty little claws into him and then where would we be? As for the name, you try coming up with an accurate yet cleverly witty operation name." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"You know, for the most 'mature' girl in school, you're pretty childish sometimes."

"That because I'm still a seven year old girl at heart, darling."

Blaise felt like a boulder was levitated off of his shoulders, he had the most amazing best friend in the world and he was just days away from getting the boy that captured his heart.

The both of them settled down comfortably on the worn out sofa after devising a plan of, finally agreeing on the name "Operation Catch-that-Mouse", Blaise being the figurative Cat of course. Hermione didn't think it was sufficiently witty enough but conceded for the sake of her friend.

They fell asleep slowly, both thinking about their futures and the men who will be playing a huge part of it.